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Official Lost Podcast transcript/March 19, 2009
SSF is responsible for this transcription. It is one in the series of the Official Lost Podcasts. ---- Kris White: What do chimpanzees have to do with runways? Who's our you, and...what do Damon and Carlton have to say about the name of the secret scene from the finale? We'll have ponderings on all that and more in today's Official Lost Audio Podcast. [Opening Lost Theme] Kris White: Hello everyone and welcome back to the podcast. We're here today with executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse to talk about last night's episode, "Namaste". They'll also tease some of the things coming up in our next episode, entitled "He's Our You", which airs March 25th at 9pm on ABC, followed by a brand new episode of Life on Mars. Don't forget you can submit your fan questions...or musings or other things at blogs.abc.com/asklost. Here now are Damon and Carlton. Carlton Cuse: Good morning, Damon! Damon Lindelof: Good morning, Carlton. Carlton Cuse: How are you? Damon Lindelof: I'm awesome. How are you? Carlton Cuse: I'm quite good. Damon Lindelof: We're feeling very refreshed now because uh, we have been-- we have completed writing the season finale. Carlton Cuse: We have indeed. And uh, we'll tell you now the title of the season finale, how 'bout that? Damon Lindelof: Yes. It is called-- Carlton Cuse: "The Incident". Damon Lindelof: "The Incident". Carlton Cuse: Part one and part two. Damon Lindelof: Right. There is no part three. Carlton Cuse: But you will see it all in one evening. You'll see part one and part two. Both parts together on-- (Both together): May the 13th. Carlton Cuse: What ABC is doing is they're gonna have a clip show at 8 o'clock and then they're going to have a two-hour block of the finale. Eventually, it'll be split into parts one and two for purposes like syndication and DVDs and stuff, which is why it is called parts one and two. Damon Lindelof: Right. And here's why it's called "The Incident": because something is going to happen in it. Carlton Cuse: (laughs) An incident, perhaps? Damon Lindelof: There will be an incident. Carlton Cuse: Excellent. Damon Lindelof: It will be up to you to decide what incident we were referring to once you've seen the two-hour finale. The rest of it is just people sitting around talking but then there's something that happens, right at the very end. Carlton Cuse: An incident. Damon Lindelof: Yeah. Speaking of which...the very end-- Carlton Cuse: Yes. Damon Lindelof: Now Carlton, you want to get out in front of this immediately because what's weird is, you guys have only seen half the season. Um, well one episode beyond half a season. You've seen-- this is through Namaste now. So that's the first nine--nine hours of the season, there's--there's still eight hours to go. Right? So you're a little bit over halfway, but already people are--are bludgeoning us. Carlton Cuse: What's the deal with this-- Damon Lindelof: Begging. Carlton Cuse: --secret scene for the finale? Knowing that we're just now...we've just finished writing the finale. Damon Lindelof: Well now we have the benefit of time. Like people are always saying also, how much do the fans impact the show? Well, here we have sort of a rare incident. We've...we've...we've finished writing the show so the fans can't really impact what happens in the finale that much but you CAN, you can determine what we're going to secretly going to code name the last-- Carlton Cuse: Yeah, so what we basically would like you to do is that, you know, in the past we've had these code names for the secret final scene of the finale. And this year, we want you guys to come up with the name for the secret final scene of the finale. So just to kind of refresh your memory, in the first season it was called "The Bagel". Damon Lindelof: Yeah. And then in the second season, it was called "The Challah". Which I always pronounce 'cause... Carlton Cuse: (tries to pronounce) Challah. Damon Lindelof: No, try it again. Carlton Cuse: Challah. Challah. Damon Lindelof: There you go. Carlton Cuse: Challah. Damon Lindelof: That's right. Carlton Cuse: Okay. And then the third season was... Damon Lindelof: Oh, the third season was "The Rattlesnake in the Mailbox", which was the flash forward. Carlton Cuse: So there's kind of been a little bit of variety. We started with some Jewish bread products and then we moved on to sort of more esoteric terminology. But we're looking for something for the end of this season, and of course, hopefully like all finales it will be a bit surprising to you. Damon Lindelof: Yeah, it'll be something that you never see coming in a million years. Carlton Cuse: Well, maybe in ten thousand years. Damon Lindelof: Yeah, exactly. Carlton Cuse: And then there's also the um, kind of some mythological elements to it and uh...but anyway, send your ideas into Kris and we will have some fun on next week's podcast picking an answer for that. Damon Lindelof: You could name the secret scene. Carlton Cuse: Yeah, that's pretty cool. Damon Lindelof: That's very exciting, if we like it. Carlton Cuse: Exactly. So let's do a quick rehash on "Namaste", Damon. Damon Lindelof: Yes. Carlton Cuse: So Horace and Amy are Ethan's father. How many parents-- Damon Lindelof: And mother. I mean...that would be weird. Carlton Cuse: Well, they're Ethan's father and mother. Damon Lindelof: Right. Carlton Cuse: That's your fault, Kris. Kris White: That is my fault. Damon Lindelof: Way to go, Kris. Kris White: Way to go. Damon Lindelof: Steee-rike one. Carlton Cuse: So Horace and Amy are Ethan's father. (Kris laughing) Wow that...and if we actually confirmed that, that would be an extremely interesting piece of mythology. Kris White: It's like South Park all over again. Damon Lindelof: Anything can happen on the island, Carlton. Carlton Cuse: Exactly. Damon Lindelof: Sawyer will be pregnant in season 6. (Carlton laughing) You heard it here first. Carlton Cuse: Don't tell people that. Damon Lindelof: I'm just saying. Will we be seeing Ethan again this season, Carlton? Carlton Cuse: Mmm, yes! Damon Lindelof: Excellent. That's exciting. Carlton Cuse: We will. Very exciting. Damon Lindelof: Not just as a baby? Carlton Cuse: No, not just as a baby. Damon Lindelof: So now we have the before, which is Ethan was born to these hippies in the Dharma Initiative and we have the after, which is he is kidnapping pregnant women and injecting them with things and getting shot by Charlie. What's in between? Carlton Cuse: Uhhhh, well... Damon Lindelof: What's the path? Carlton Cuse: The path is uh, an interesting thing and I don't want to totally want to spoil that here on this podcast. Damon Lindelof: All right. Carlton Cuse: But you will see another scene with Ethan in it this year. Damon Lindelof: Excellent. Carlton Cuse: That runway that Christian and Sawyer and Kate built in season three, was that planned way back then? Was that where the plane was gonna land? What was up with that? Damon Lindelof: Well, it uh...you and I were discussing this morning that apparently chimpanzees are capable of planning. (Carlton laughs) Uh... Carlton Cuse: Yes. So now that we've finished writing the season, that was what our breakfast commentary was about. Normally we talk about story and script, but this morning we had a very uh, lengthy conversation about what chimpanzees are capable of doing. And they are capable of doing some bad things-- Damon Lindelof: Carlton is a obsessed with chimpanzees. Carlton Cuse: Yes. Damon Lindelof: This chimpanzee in Sweden had basically been accruing weaponry, rocks and chipping off...in anticipation of the zoo opening at noon, so he could then throw them at people. Which is sometimes-- Carlton Cuse: Yes. And in fact you brought me the article about Moe, right? Who was another chimpanzee who bit someone's face off, nose off, as well as some body parts. Damon Lindelof: Right. Not appropriate for... Carlton Cuse: You don't want to mess with a *** chimpanzee. Damon Lindelof: But none of this has anything to do with the runway. (Carlton laughs a lot) What we're saying is that...well no, it does, I'm gonna bring it back. Watch this, watch this. Carlton Cuse: Okay. I'm ready. Damon Lindelof: The term "planning" (Carlton still laughing) is all relative. For some, it's gathering rocks to throw at people. For others, it's anticipating that Ajira Flight 316 might be landing three years from now. Carlton Cuse: Awesome! Damon Lindelof: But I would say that Jacob said to somebody, "build a runway". So, you know, Ben was building a runway. He's always been a dutiful soldier so...were we planning on something landing on the runway? Well... Carlton Cuse: No, but Jacob might have been. Damon Lindelof: Jacob might have been. If you're building a runway, something's gonna land on it, right? Carlton Cuse: Pretty much. Damon Lindelof: There you go. Carlton Cuse: Or you're gonna have some chimpanzee problems. (Damon laughs) One or the other. Damon Lindelof: And Geronimo Jackson made its triumphant...you heard a little bit of it at the end of 316 when Jin pulls up, but now--now the entire song has dropped. I think-- Carlton Cuse: Do you want to tell, the uh, fans the name of the song, Damon? Damon Lindelof: Uh, "Dharma Lady" is the name of the song. Carlton Cuse: "Dharma Lady" is the name of the song. Damon Lindelof: Yes. Again, Eddie Kitsis is the-- is the Geronimo Jackson expert here and can tell you about Keith Strutter and the other members of the band. Carlton Cuse: He's been studying them for...years. Damon Lindelof: But I-- I believe if you're interested in the single, it's now available on iTunes. Carlton Cuse: That's right, you can go there and...it has a very kind of Grateful Dead kind of vibe. It's a good song. Damon Lindelof: Excellent. Carlton Cuse: All right. Damon Lindelof: Carlton, the next episode, the one that's coming up now is called "He's Our You", which is a very interesting title. Carlton Cuse: Yes indeed it is. Damon Lindelof: Who's it about? Carlton Cuse: Uh, I would say it's about Sayid. Damon Lindelof: So is Sayid being told this line, "he's our you"? So someone's saying to Sayid, "he's our you"? Carlton Cuse: Yes! Damon Lindelof: And--and so they're describing another character. Carlton Cuse: Yes, who is...represents sort of Sayid on the other side. Damon Lindelof: And Sayid is a torturer, is that correct? Carlton Cuse: That is correct. Damon Lindelof: So is it safe to-- Carlton Cuse: He's a lover. Damon Lindelof: Is it safe to assume...oh, okay well that's an entirely different way to go. (Carlton laughs) So is this safe to say that Sayid is being introduced to somebody who is either the Dharma Initiative's torturer and/or resident lover? Carlton Cuse: Yes. One or the other. Damon Lindelof: All right. Carlton Cuse: He is...it could be that-- that's a potent combination. But if the others have that character, I'm curious to see him. Damon Lindelof: The resident lover? Carlton Cuse: The lover and torturer combination. Or her. Damon Lindelof: Exactly. Very cool. Carlton Cuse: Let's get on to questions, 'cause that's really why they listen to this podcast. [Fanfare music plays] Damon Lindelof: My lieges, Damon and Carlton. In a recent Enhanced episode, a comment is made by the pop-up-thingie that Hurley is in the mental institute and not mental institution in Santa Rosa. Is this a clue that Santa Rosa is actually a place of mental education (Carlton laughs) that is making an army of crazy people? Or is it simply a mistake? Additionally: will we find this out by the end of the season or will this be a mystery like Libby's past and the Hurley bird that will never be answered? Thank you, good day, Katherine from Santa Clarita, California. Carlton Cuse: Thank you, Katherine. Yes, that is-- you know the pop-ups honestly we do not have time to regulate the pop-ups and we do have a couple people who work for us in the office who...kind of monitor those things but they should not be regarded as canon. And they should be regarded as helpful aids, as though, you know, your--your uncle Larry was sitting on the couch and he was a Lost fan and he was explaining things to you, sometimes Uncle Larry-- Damon Lindelof: You know, I had an Uncle Larry. Carlton Cuse: But sometimes Uncle Larry might not be right. Damon Lindelof: Yeah. Carlton Cuse: So that's, you know... He was in an institution and they were likely not doing special secret research on Hurley there. And the Hurley bird... I don't know, I mean... Damon Lindelof: It's not in the finale this year, I think? Carlton Cuse: It's not in the finale this year, no. No, it's not. Damon Lindelof: It's tired of-- Carlton Cuse: It's not even an "I think", it's a no. Damon Lindelof: Don't even get your hopes up. Carlton Cuse: I--I share your disappointment that the Hurley bird has not returned into the show, and I don't really know why we haven't been able to work the Hurley bird in. Damon Lindelof: You know why, Carlton? I think we can talk about it. People listen to the podcast 'cause they want to know what's going on behind the scenes. We couldn't close this deal. (Carlton laughs) The Hurley bird basically, uh-- Carlton Cuse: Kind of pulled a Manny Ramirez kind of hold out. And uh... Damon Lindelof: Apparently it's going to be appearing in the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. (Carlton laughs) Which I wanna see how they figure that out but... Carlton Cuse: That would be better. I would actually be much happier if the Hurley bird played off on Grey's. Damon Lindelof: I think Izzy is going to see it. Because apparently she's been having some hallucinations this year. Carlton Cuse: Hi Damon and Carlton, I have a question regarding self-perceived nerdiness and its relationship to shame. (laughs) I'm sure you can relate. Damon Lindelof: Oh lord. Carlton Cuse: I love this question. I play in a Lost novelty band called Sonic Weapon Fence. (Damon laughs) Lately our drummer has been ashamed to tell people what kind of music his band plays, because he thinks that we, and by extension he, will be branded as nerdy. Internally and within groups of Lost fans, he is proud of our work but as soon as he's out in the real world, he clams up. So that brings me to my two distinct but related questions. First, is this an experience that you have with the writers? Do they love working on Lost but have a hard time telling their wives or girlfriends about paradox-free time travel? How do you counter those feelings of supreme dorkiness? Damon Lindelof: Wow. Carlton Cuse: And the second question: will you please use the power of your podcast to tell my drummer that he is a nerd but that's okay. He needs validation. And then, does Vincent know who Jacob is? From Patrick in Chicago, Illinois. Damon Lindelof: First off, you guys have chosen an awesome name for a band. You know, no one would even know that Sonic Weapon Fence was a Lost novelty band and that might lend to the fact that people are buying tickets to see your band and there's some degree of confusion amongst them when you start singing about the Dharma Initiative. As far as your drummer goes, the fact of the matter is is you're a drummer and that makes you cool. And that's all there is to it, no matter what it is you do, you're a drummer. And it doesn't matter what you play, or--or what band you're in, you just say "I'm a drummer, man". That's all. Carlton Cuse: And we love you. Damon Lindelof: Yeah, and we love you. Even if the lead singer of your band doesn't. Carlton Cuse: How 'bout our um, wives and writers' wives and girlfriends, do they have a hard time telling-- talking about paradox-free time travel? Damon Lindelof: My wife thinks I write for Cold Case. (Carlton laughs) She does, for five years now. She hasn't even questioned it. Carlton Cuse: That's awesome. Damon Lindelof: Yeah, it's kind of like people ask us what we do. We start with like, "I'm a television writer" and then they go "oh, what show?". And then you're like, "here it comes". They'll either say "oh my god, I love that" or "I used to watch it and it totally confused me and I hate it" or "I've never seen it". But anywhere on the spectrum we've got a sort of series of talking points, so... Carlton Cuse: But it's awesome and we'd love to hear a Sonic Weapon Fence song. Damon Lindelof: Yeah! Send it in. Carlton Cuse: Send it in. Damon Lindelof: Next question, Carlton, and this is a short one. We're getting a little long winded here. Uh, this is from Tom Halverson in Fullerton, California. Obviously Carlton has a thing for Sawyer, especially when shirtless. So what should Carlton and Sawyer shippers be called? You remember shippers from the-- Carlton Cuse: Yes. Damon Lindelof: So Crawyers? Jarlton? Thank you for your help in this matter. Carlton Cuse: I like Jarlton. Damon Lindelof: I like Jarlton too 'cause it's getting the James aspect of it and then it's you. So for those of you that are rooting for Carlton and Sawyer, you are now Jarltons. Carlton Cuse: And it is true, you have completely busted me on my um, rather excessive obsession with Sawyer. Damon Lindelof: Wow. Carlton Cuse: Hey, Damon, Carlton. I have a question about the Swan Station. Do you plan to show us what was behind that blocked off concrete wall or tell us anything more about it or was its appearance in Lost "Via Domus" the last we will ever see of it? This is from Blake in KC, Missouri. Damon Lindelof: Blake, good question. I think what we said on the show is, and what Sayid speculated, is there was some sort of energy source behind it. I believe the verb he used is "Chernobyl-ed". Um, that there's this concrete basically sealing off the Dharma hatch, the Swan Station, from that energy and then I guess the idea was that every 108 minutes by pushing the button, it dispelled some release of energy that basically kept that thing at bay. So it's like if that concrete wall was like a dam, you know, that that release of energy was sort of like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the hole. So to look at that energy, I don't know what energy looks like, but it's probably very light and very loud. Carlton Cuse: Are we going to learn at the Swan later at some point in the show, Damon? Damon Lindelof: Objection, your honor. Leading question. (Carlton laughs) Yes, we're gonna learn. I have a feeling we're gonna be learning a little bit more about the Swan. I mean, we're in 1977. Carlton Cuse: And we do a finale called "The Incident". Damon Lindelof: There is that too. Carlton Cuse: I mean, if I was just basically adding two plus two, I would get four. Damon Lindelof: But I'll tell you, those writers on Lost can be very tricky. Maybe they called it "The Incident" because they wanted me to think it was gonna be about the Swan, but it was actually about something completely mundane. Like Jack loses his shoes. Carlton Cuse: Mmm. That's true. Damon Lindelof: Hi Damon and Carlton! I'm loving season 5. My question is about Charlotte. Now this is a good question, we've been asked a couple of times now so let's get serious and use the podcast to straighten up the record. In "LaFleur", we are lead to believe Faraday sees a young Charlotte in the Dharma barracks in 1974, but this is impossible because Charlotte wasn't born until 1979. And I think they're referring to "Confirmed Dead", Carlton, when Benjamin Linus lists all these things off about Charlotte Staples Lewis including where she was born. He gives her date of birth as 1979, that's what this Laura K. from Lansing is writing. So what's the deal?! Hallucination, weird time travel or did you just screw up, Carlton? Carlton Cuse: Um, no. We didn't really just screw up but what happened basically was the actress, Rebecca Mader, who we cast in this part, was younger than the character we originally we conceived. And she did not want to brand herself as being 37, which I think is what she would have had to been if we had stuck to that original birth date. So-- Damon Lindelof: Yeah, in the script it said 1970. '70 was the-- Carlton Cuse: Or '71, something. Damon Lindelof: '70 or '71. Carlton Cuse: And basically she took it upon herself to readjust the birth date on the set. Damon Lindelof: Yes, Rebecca Mader. That was her...one of the first scenes she shot, actually. Carlton Cuse: Yeah. Damon Lindelof: And she basically said, "I wasn't born in 1970, I was born in 1979". Carlton Cuse: "So I'm gonna make it 1979". Damon Lindelof: Yeah, not thinking like we pay any attention to dates on this show. 'Cause we're certainly not going to call down to Hawaii and say "oh, but they're going to be time traveling next year and after your character dies, this is going to be a very important fact". So it got changed and in the editing room, we probably should have said...we should have caught it but we didn't. Carlton Cuse: Yeah, so then we ended up kind of owning that and then we realized, you know, we had to stick to our mythology and that was sort of in the category of tolerable errors. But good for you, you did pick up on that. Damon Lindelof: It's a screw up. Charlotte was born in 1970. Carlton Cuse: This is from Robert in Sumner, Washington who says I've listened to every podcast you've ever done and I have never had a question of mine read. This is a big one and it would mean the world to me if you guys could talk about it. So when Walt tells Locke that he saw him in a dream, that he was in a suit, that there were people that wanted to hurt him...is that what's happening right now? Are the Ajira people going to hurt him? Or is it something that's gonna go on in season 6? And uh thanks, love every second of the show and would look forward to an Exposé spin off. Damon Lindelof: I think that these are interesting theories, but all we'll say is this: that when Locke is in a suit, and he's--he's in a suit in two basic phases of his life and death. One is he's in a suit in a coffin, it doesn't seem like anyone's trying to hurt him. But one could make the argument that by bringing him back, that would be hurtful. So is Walt talking about the Oceanic Six? Or once he's back alive, is he talking about the Ajira folks? I think those are the two possibilities we should be considering. So you're barking up the right tree. Carlton Cuse: So continue to bark. Damon Lindelof: What was the other question? Carlton Cuse: They were looking forward to an Exposé spin off. Damon Lindelof: Oh. I think that we're um, actually talking about an Exposé animated spin off called Exposé Babies. (Carlton laughs) Sort of like Muppet Babies. Carlton Cuse: In 3-D. Damon Lindelof: Yeah, exactly. Uh, it's in development so the conversations are very preliminary. I have one final short question for you, Carlton. Carlton Cuse: Okay. Damon Lindelof: I feel like because we're in the Charlotte axis of facing the last question and because I want to say this person's name, this is Ali Manisto from Oulu, Finland. Carlton Cuse: Wow. Damon Lindelof: And the question is this, Carlton: did you know that Charlotte Staples Lewis is an anagram for "Walt steals helicopters"? (both laugh) Did you know that? Carlton Cuse: (laughs and coughs) Can you tell from my reaction that the answer is no? Damon Lindelof: Well neither did I. Carlton Cuse: Wow. Damon Lindelof: And now everybody listening to this podcast, all 40 of you. Carlton Cuse: Wow. Walt steals helicopters. Crazy. Damon Lindelof: You know what, every once in a while we do something like this-- Carlton Cuse: There needs to be more sunlight in Finland. Damon Lindelof: There does. (Kris laughs) Carlton Cuse: (laughs) All right. Thank you though for your questions. Hey we love chatting with you, we're gonna roll right now but we'll be back next week. We look forward to your submissions on the name the final scene...thing and uh, peace, love-- Damon Lindelof: (laughs) I like the name of the promotion. Just call it the "name the final scene thing". Carlton Cuse: Yeah, that's good! Damon Lindelof: You...what do they win if they name it? We'll send you a signed hat. Carlton Cuse: I don't think they can win anything, because then it's a contest and then there's all sorts of contest rules. Kris White: They get the honor of having bragging rights. Damon Lindelof: You can tell people that was your idea and they won't believe you. Carlton Cuse: But we'll-- Damon Lindelof: "No, it is! Listen to this podcast!" And they'll go, "what's a podcast?" Carlton Cuse: Exactly. Damon Lindelof: All right, thanks guys. Carlton Cuse: Peace. [Exit music] Kris White: That's it for this edition of the Official Lost Audio Podcast. Remember that you can submit your ideas for the season finale secret scene thing contest at blogs.abc.com/asklost. "He's Our You" airs Wednesday, March 25th at 9pm on ABC.